


The Iron Titan

by dratinigirl



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-13
Updated: 2013-08-25
Packaged: 2017-12-23 09:42:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/924852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dratinigirl/pseuds/dratinigirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iron giant AU.</p><p>Armin Arlert is a 16 year old living in a small town during the height of the cold war. He reads to escape the troubles of everyday life, but one night he finds adventure greater than anything from a science-fiction novel. A humongous man, fifty feet tall, living in the forest behind his home. Now he must keep the giant man- strong as if he were made of metal- safe from the eyes of paranoia-stricken humanity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. It came from outer space

Hannes parked his car outside of the treeline. The drunk old man would frequent this spot with a bottle of whiskey three or four nights out of the week- most bars wouldn’t take him anymore, save for on weekends. His ramblings when under the influence of ungodly amounts of booze drove out all of the other customers; and that didn’t please management anywhere. He sat back on the hood, and tossed back a mouthful of the burning fluid. It burned a delightful trail all the way down to his belly, and the man let out a relieved sigh. He sat and looked up at the stars, working up a good buzz before he ran around the woods like a madman; keys tied tight to his belt loops so that he wouldn’t lose them out there. 

The man sat up, the liquid in his bottle sloshing along with what was in his stomach. He looked up above the treeline again, and his eyes widened. A bright light shone ahead of him in the forest, smoke rising from the spot. For a long moment all was still, and the light disappeared. Birds squawked as they fled the safety of the treetops. Then, silence. 

There was a colossal thud as something hit the ground- and several trees came toppling down to the ground. They fell towards the ground in his direction, one by one, snapped like twigs by something gargantuan. The man was frozen in fear as the thing started drawing closer to him. The hood of his Chevy rattled both from his violent shaking, and the vibration of the ground as humongous footsteps drew closer and closer to where he sat.  
Slowly, the beast stepped out into the open- right in front of Hannes’ vehicle. On the ground was a giant foot, with smoke rising off of its surface. Hannes tilted his head up slowly; examining the body of the thing. It was hard to see in the dark of the night, form blocked partially by trees. 

The old man looked straight into the eyes of the thing, shining and green even in the dim light. It opened its mouth and let out a long sigh, steam erupting from its gaping mouth. Hannes shouted in terror, and scrambled for his car door. He left his bottle of booze to break on the ground; clawing his way into the driver’s seat. He didn’t even close the door before jamming in the key and turning the ignition. The headlights shone on the giant legs of the creature, making the giant take a few steps back.  
The little car went zooming off and away from the woods; and the massive creature watched it go. In fact, if someone else could have been there watching, they might even have seen it wave goodbye to the human before returning to the forest.

…

Armin pulled his bike up to the rack in front of the library. The boy walked up the flight of stairs to the front door, ignoring the group of drunks that sat around on the corner every day. He too was a daily visitor of the library, but for the proper reasons. Unlike most of the kids his age, Armin would rather stick his nose in a book than in front of a t.v. screen. Though, he did like comic books just as much as a normal kid, and spent a lot of his time reading those along with traditional print. 

Armin was quite small compared to the other high school students in his town. He was sixteen years old, thin, and had skin that was fair as any of the girls. This caused him to become a verbal punching bag for most of local delinquents. So he didn’t go out much, save for the library or the medicine store, any place where lots of people could be found and he couldn’t be pinned up against a wall and beaten for whatever he had on him. A life without more than a few friends was exhausting and dull, and books were his only outlet. For a moment he could become Dr. John Watson, or see through the eyes of a hobbit, instead of sitting in his bed with the light turned on all night long. 

He counted out the books that he had to return- surprised when he came up one short. He sighed through his nose at the thought that he’d have to go up and down all of the stairs again. But Armin definitely didn’t want to borrow anything new while he still had an older book sitting in the basket of his bicycle. Besides, it could start raining while he was inside looking around- there was no choice but to go back outside and make the trek up and down the stairs again. So he turned on his heel and towards the front doors of the library; exiting out into the sunlight again. 

At the stoop of the stairs was a group of men, bums and drunks, but he couldn’t help but notice one of them in the center ranting on about something. Armin stopped in the middle of the stairs to listen to one old man rave in front of the others. 

“I swear- it was fifty feet tall, and had eyes that were green like emeralds! It broke down half of the woods like twigs, and almost stomped on me!” He claimed. “I bet he’s some sort of space invader, sent from mars to bring all of us humans back for them to eat!”

“Really? Sounds more like I’m going to find a pile of whiskey bottles out there instead of trees!” One of the others chided, making the others laugh.  
Armin watched a small man approach the group from inside the library, carrying with him a few volumes. He was small for someone that looked like an adult, just a few inches over five feet. He hardly even looked taller than Armin himself.

“He’s not lying, I saw it too.” He had a monotone expression plastered on his face as he addressed the group; also having eavesdropped on the old man’s story. Armin’s ears perked up- suddenly this wasn’t some tall tale anymore, there was another witness of the whole thing! Hannes grinned triumphantly, his eyes lighting up as the stranger spoke in support of him. 

“See? I told you all, it was real! This guy’ll tell you all about it- he turned to the small man just as he was starting to walk off again. “Hey wait a second, where are you going?” He called after the stranger. 

“Home.” Was all that came from the raven-haired person as he stepped away from the gaggle of bums. He was heading right for the bike rack, and Armin assumed that he was the person parked beside him. Hurriedly he stepped down the rest of the concrete stairs; approaching the man just as he unchained his bicycle from the metal rack. 

“Wait a minute sir, did you really see a giant space alien?” The boy asked. He was suddenly overtaken by curiosity- he’d never heard anything so exciting before. If a real alien had come to their town, a giant 15-foot one that breathed smoke like some kind of dragon, then they’d all be famous! And there would be so many scientific opportunities, too. Like learning where it came from, and how it got here, even knowing what it actually looked like would be amazing! What if it was covered in tentacles and eyeballs, and had an enormous brain sticking out of its head- like the ones that they showed on t.v. at night. 

The older man huffed through his nose, looking at Armin with an annoyed scowl. “Of course I didn’t see anything, giant aliens don’t exist. I just didn’t want to watch a bunch of dirty rats stirring up a bunch of noise over something that never happened. Now move out of the way.” He swung his leg over his bike, ushering the young boy out of the way with his hand. Armin hopped right out of his path.

With that, the person drove off in the opposite direction. Armin didn’t have a second to ask him anything more on the topic before he was gone, and he didn’t want to stir up any trouble by following after him. The blonde frowned, disappointed. For a couple of seconds he’d had his hopes up, thinking that there was some adventure in store for him. Turns out it was just the ramblings of a stupid old man again. Boring, like everything that went on where he lived. 

The blonde grabbed his book from the basket of his bike, and walked back up into the library. Now all of the men on the stoop had moved onto something other than the story about the giant alien, and Armin couldn’t feel any less interested in whatever stuff they had to talk about. With a sigh, he stepped into the fiction section. At least he could read some stories by H.G. Wells to satisfy his dreams of invaders from another planet.


	2. Chapter 2

Armin returned back home some time later, carrying several volumes of classic sci-fi novels in the basket of his bicycle. The books would probably keep his mind off of it- but he couldn’t shake his thoughts on the creature that Hannes had described in his hung over ravings earlier in the day. He wasn’t sure if it was the conviction that he’d had in his voice, or the mysterious stranger who had piped in on the topic. Even though he’d quickly denied that he’d really seen the creature, something still seemed amiss. 

Placing his stack of dusty books on the counter; Armin noticed a note taped to the refrigerator. He pulled it off and scanned the scrawl, which had been slapped onto the page with a pencil. His mother usually worked late into the night at a diner, and left him notes to communicate with him on days that they didn’t catch one another. Armin’s father had died long ago. Armin had been four years old at the time, and while he’d been a little bit lonely growing up, he didn’t think on it much now that he was older. 

On the note was a list of the usual reminders from his mother- don’t stay up too late on a school night, don’t watch anything frightening before bed, and stay out of the junk food before going to sleep or he’d wake up sick. 

“Okay mom, got it.” Armin ripped the note in two, and dropped it into the trashcan. The blonde flicked open the breadbox and pulled out a package of ho-hos, and then a can of whipped cream and a soda out of the fridge. He left his books on the counter. Armin didn’t want to get lost in his own head. All that he needed right now was to sit through a bad horror film. That would melt his brain so badly that he wouldn’t have room to think of aliens or monsters anymore.

Armin took some time constructing a blanket fort around his living room, because if he was going to do this he was going to go all out. With the movie starting he curled up inside of his hand-made nest, and guzzled down half the can of whipped cream. Whatever was on the screen was filled with numbingly bad acting, and effects that included duct tape and cardboard- but it was just interesting enough to keep Armin’s attention. 

The boy continued to flood his system with sugar, and after twenty minutes his mind managed to wander away from Hannes’ wild stories. What was he doing listening to an old drunk, anyway? Next he’d start to believe tales about pigs flying off of rooftops, or mice that fought with swords. It wasn’t very often that Armin let anything so crazy get in the way of his rational thoughts, but those words had struck home for him. At least he could drown it all out with bad cinema and sweets. 

He felt his eyes drooping as he continued to watch the black and white screen. It was really starting to get boring, and instead of keeping him attentive the film was putting Armin to sleep. He didn’t want to close his eyes though, there was evidence of junk food all around him, and the t.v. would be left on all night long. Then again there was the prospect of not leaving his cozy little blanket fort- but if he slept inside of it then he would probably have a pain in his back when he woke up the next morning. 

Just as his eyes were starting to come to a full close, the television cut to static. The loud burst of noise startled Armin out of his drowsy haze, and he was alert again. With a sigh through his nose, he got up off the ground and tapped the device. It didn’t respond to any of the gentle thumps to the wooden casing. Armin groaned. It had to be the antenna on the roof, which meant he’d have to climb up there and check it out unless he wanted his mother to have a cow. A bird must have landed on top of it and knocked it out of place, he thought as he collected the empty containers on the floor. He tossed them into the trashcan right on top of his mother’s note; and walked outside through the back door. 

Carefully Armin climbed up the ladder on the side of the house and up to the roof. He looked at the spot where the metal object should have been; and he took a step back. Their antenna was missing, and with it a few shingles from where it had been screwed in. Screwed as in, it needed noisy, heavy tools to remove. The boy hurried over to the site, and looked out into his yard. A gasp escaped him as he saw treetops ruffling in the forest, birds flying from them. 

“The alien…” He murmured in near disbelief. Sure it was a stupid to think that, but nothing else could have just plucked his antenna off of the roof and gotten away from the house as quickly as they had. The culprit would have had to have taken a car, and he couldn’t hear an engine anywhere. 

Armin ran across the other side of the roof, practically jumping down the ladder. He rushed into the house, slamming the back door behind him without care. Up the stairs he went, hopping into his room and darting underneath his bed. There the boy kept his BB gun- every part of it was covered in dust, he’d only touched the thing but once as a little kid. But he kept it under his mattress like his mother kept a pistol in the drawer of her nightstand; just in case. 

The teen rustled around amongst his belongings. He pulled on a pair of snow boots, a thick jacket, and flicked the safety off of his meager little BB gun. His name was still etched into the side, reading ARMIN ARLERT in big letters. Lastly he grabbed a flashlight, holding it in his free hand. The moon was full, but he still needed some extra light if he was going out into the woods. 

Armin took a deep breath. “I come in peace.” He said, trying to sound firm and like a grown man. He repeated the words a few times as he left his home, turning his flashlight towards the forest where the trees had been shaking. He was scared, tip-toeing along through the aisles of trees and jumping at every chirp of a cricket. But he straightened his back at the thought that this could make him famous- then nobody would ever beat on him again. 

With newfound courage Armin marched through the woods. He stepped into a wide clearing, and shone the flashlight. He dropped it a second later- gasping. The forest around him looked as if it had been subjected to a hurricane. There were huge hunks out of the trees, and several lay knocked over on the ground. The birds were still gone from the area, leaving it quiet. Armin followed the path of downed trees towards the nearby power plant. Maybe the alien had taken his antenna there? With its advanced knowledge, it could be trying to channel power and send out a message to the rest of its kind! It could be a cry for help, or possibly a green light to begin a large scale invasion of the planet. 

The blonde gulped. On the tips of his toes he crept up to a tree next to the plant. There was nothing around the complex of metal, save for electrical wires that snuck into the surrounding trees. At least, nothing alive. His eyes looked down into the clearing on the ground, and he peered to see the object lying there. It was his antenna! 

Armin broke out into a nervous sweat. Someone, some THING had brought the metal object here from his house. And it was still nearby- the crickets and the birds were too quiet for it not to be. The silence that surrounded the area made the boy’s ears feel as if they were going to pop any second. He also felt that his heart might burst; as it pounded his ribcage like a kettle drum. 

The boy shrieked when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder with their hand. He swung around, pointing his little gun at the source. Eyes wide as headlights, Armin’s gaze followed the form of a massive arm. The arm was attached to a shoulder, and that shoulder a body, and a head sat on top of it- every part was massive. Even the humanoid eyes that stared down at Armin were colossal. 

He dropped his gun immediately, only clinging to his flashlight as he ran in the opposite direction. Armin fled into the clearing, and the humongous creature followed after him. Taking one look over his shoulder, Armin could see the shadow of a gargantuan man- a titan. It followed after him with lumbering footsteps that shook the ground around them, his arm stretched out to try and lift Armin up off of the forest floor. 

The human tripped in his hurry; falling to ground with a thud. He turned onto his back, frozen in terror as the titan reached down to grab him. Just as it seemed to be over for poor Armin, there was a flash of light. The monster roared as it caught onto the electrical wires, and its gigantic form was set alight with an powerful current of electricity. Armin took the chance to flee while the titan screamed and thrashed about, its flesh burning as it tangled itself up in the supercharged wires. 

Flashlight still in hand the boy broke out into a sprint. He hopped over a tree trunk, and listened to the titan howl in pain. He stopped, and turned around to where sparks were flying everywhere. “… I come in peace…” He breathed. How could he tell himself that if he didn’t help this thing out now? It could have killed him, but it didn’t. Maybe it would try again if it survived this… But Armin couldn’t afford not to take that risk. 

Turning on the heel of his boots, Armin ran back into the clearing and towards the source of the electricity. He cleared his mind of the creature’s screams. He needed to find the master power switch. That would cut the circuit and free the titan. Without another thought he sped towards the plant, narrowly avoiding a metal column as it came toppling to the ground. In the intense light of the electricity Armin spotted the power switch- he leapt for it, pulling the lever down with all of the force in his weak form. 

The light faded away, and he fell to the ground. Hastily he turned towards the wire-encased titan, who stood still as stone. There was smoke pouring from wherever it had been touched by the wires. It fell against the trees and caused a huge tremor along the ground. The creature’s eyes were rolled into the back of its head, and the huge mouth hung open. Armin almost laughed at the way its tongue was rolled out of the side- but those long rows of lipless teeth kept him quiet. 

He approached the beast, which in the dim light looked like a muscular human, though it lacked genitals. Armin crawled right up its stomach; and smelled the gas that came from its wounds. He blinked. “Not smoke… It’s steam.” Murmuring to himself, he continued to crawl up the thing’s body and up to its face. He took a seat straddling its crooked nose, peering into the whites of its eyes.

“Hey… Come on big guy, wake up!” He tapped its nose with his shoe. “You’re free now, I got you out of all of those wires… Don’t die on me buddy!” Armin called. It seemed to fall on deaf ears, however. It sounded like the thing’s heart was still beating. He felt the flesh beneath him with his hands. The titan’s internal body temperature had to be twice that of a normal human’s, for its blood to steam the way that it did. 

Armin turned around, and peered into the thing’s gaping mouth. It had no lips, just rows of flat teeth that jutted from its skin. It didn’t look very good with its tongue just hanging out like that- so Armin reached over and grabbed it, shoving the organ right back inside. “There you go, now you won’t have to be embarrassed when you wake up.” 

He jumped. Suddenly a jet of steam came out of that mouth, and some from the nostrils of the beast. Armin yowled with fright, and jumped onto the nearest downed tree. The titan was awake, rubbing its head as steam poured from the wounds- no, the wounds were gone! Armin didn’t take the time to think for once, he took off again as soon as the thing turned to look at him. 

As he fled, it followed, the earth trembled. Armin tried to get more air into his lungs, to move faster, but the titan only had to walk to be right on his tail. “Stay back!” He took his flashlight and pointed it right at the titan, waving it around like a torch. “Stay back I said…” His voice dropped from a shout to a breath as he noticed that the beast had disappeared back into the cover of the trees. 

Armin dusted himself off, spinning around a few times to make sure that the thing hadn’t stepped over him. All was calm, the gentle sound of crickets filling the area. Forgetting about his gun, Armin turned towards home. “I’ll be back tomorrow big guy…” He whispered beneath his breath. He hoped that he hadn’t fucked up his chances with communicating to the thing by running away. Though, he had saved its life. Maybe that would keep it from wanting to squish his little human body like a bug. 

The boy returned home with limbs that felt like jelly the whole way, his hands shaking so bad that he could hardly hold the flashlight in front of him. Thankfully his mother wasn’t home yet, so he didn’t have to worry about sneaking back inside of the house. He was going to have to explain the missing antenna though… It was enough to just tell his mother that it had been stolen in the night, as he slept. 

However; this couldn’t be more untrue. A titan had stolen their antenna and taken it to the power plant for some reason, and it seemed to have interest in Armin. Whether or not this interest was friendly or murderous, he couldn’t be sure. He would have to find out the next day. All night long the teen sat in his room, tossing and turning on his bed while he replayed the memory of his encounter with the creature over and over in his mind. He was very tempted to write it down while everything was fresh- but it could be dangerous if anyone found out what was going on. For now, he wanted to keep the creature a secret until he could figure out its intention. Maybe he’d finally make a friend, just as intelligent as he was. 

It was just before dawn that Armin managed to find sleep; a grin spread across his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we have a bit more going on, ahaha! Sorry these first two chapters have been short, the next one will be up either tonight or tomorrow :) And again, please comment if you have anything to say!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alright guys, let's say for the sake of this fic that Eren can somehow miraculously speak without lips! OvO

The next day, things were rough. Armin was stuck in school until two thirty, and the lack of sleep from the night before was not treating him well at all. At least they were watching another film; something so mind-numbingly boring that he didn’t really have to use his head all that much to focus. The movie was just a horrid animation on what to do in the case of a nuclear attack, something that he’d been watching on a routine basis for years now. He’d heard that the government only showed these films to decrease the level of paranoia that people felt about the potential breakout of nuclear war. If a real bomb came down on them, everyone would be dead before they could even realize what had happened. 

His ears perked up- behind him, Jean and Marco were whispering to one another about something. “Hey, did you hear old man Hannes yesterday? He’s been running around telling everyone about this giant alien that showed up in the middle of the woods last night.” Jean murmured. 

Marco rolled his eyes. “You know he’s just an old drunk, he probably saw a tree branch shaped like an arm and wigged out about it.” He kept his voice down just enough that the teacher couldn’t hear him over the audio of the film. Mr. Shadis would be pissed if he heard someone talking during the middle of one of his lessons. Not that he was actually teaching, the information was being fed through a projector light and a speaker.

“I heard about that too- I think it’s an alien invader, or maybe some kind of monster sent in by the Russians to spy on us! There was a bright light right before he saw it, must have been its ship crash landing out in the middle of the woods.” Connie piped in from beside Armin. 

“They’d be smart to just blow it up with a nuke and get it all over with before it can send any more information back to the commies.” Jean snorted, and sat back behind his desk. Armin thought about commenting on how the giant was real, and that he was living not too far from his own house- but he decided to keep quiet. He didn’t want to frighten the thing by bringing a bunch of people with him, or to have those people go and blab to someone. He’d take care of it on his own, he was smart enough to handle a fifty foot tall, potentially murderous thing from outer space, right? Right. 

…

Levi stood with his arms crossed. In front of him was a tow truck, and hitched to the back of it was… Something. This something was metal, and had once been an actual object, but now it looked as if it had been run over by a tank. Two other men stood behind him- the raving man from the library, Hannes, and one of his companions. He turned to the latter. 

“So, what exactly was this thing before it got crushed?” He questioned. “I’m more than happy to take it off of your hands, but I’d like to get an idea of what I could salvage from it, if I can even take anything.” 

“Well, it was a tractor last night when I parked it outside the barn. Looks like some of them kinds came and banged it up with a bunch of baseball bats while I was sleepin’. It was getting old though, it’s probably best that I get a newer model anyway…” The old man scratched his head, watching as what used to be his tractor was driven off on the back of a tow truck. 

Levi was about to speak, but Hannes opened his big trap first. “No it wasn’t- it was that giant! It must have come walking through here last night, and stepped on it on accident.” He blurted out. “You said that when you found it, it was out there near the woods, didn’t you? That forest is where that thing’s been living! I bet you anything that at night it’s been creeping out of the trees, coming and spying on us while we sleep. Maybe it’s out there sending radio signals to sputnik!”

With a shake of his head, Levi made for his car. Hannes was too busy blowing the eardrums out of that poor farmer to notice that he had taken off. Giants, aliens… This whole damned town was too crazy for him to handle. However, there was something in the back of his head that told him otherwise. That dent couldn’t have been caused by baseball bats, the wood would have snapped; or it would have bent any metal before it could have done that amount of damage. And it looked like it had been lifted out of place, not beaten where it had been found outside of the trees. 

The man sighed, and turned up the radio. These stupid rednecks were starting to make him go nutty.   
…

On the other side of the woods, back at the power plant, a group of men were gathered all around to investigate the wreckage of metal all around. One man stuck out amongst the others, an unshaven man dressed in a clean black suit. He looked around the wreckage with a bored look in his eyes- he’d been called down here on the account of some drunk raving about alien invaders. If he had a dime for every time some idiot had him called out of Washington and into some ramshackle farm town, then he’d be sitting on a mountain of gold bars and diamonds. 

One of the overall-clad hicks approached him, holding a piece of the wreckage in one of his hands. “So, what do you think Mr. Weilman? Was it really a… You know…” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “…Alien invader?” 

“It was as much of as an alien as my mother was an elephant. Looks like someone just came in here with their friends and a couple of tools and wrecked the place.” Kitz replied, straightening his tie. “I mean, there’s no evidence of a gigantic alien anywhere- there’s nothing around here but trees and dirt. If something really had been through here, we would have found a gigantic hair, or a toe nail, or something like that. You know, evidence.” 

“Oh, but wait- we did find something earlier. It’s not much, but maybe you can make something out of it.” The man led Kitz to the small cart of what could still be used from the wreckage. Out of it he pulled a small BB gun, with half of a name etched in what was left of the wood. 

Kitz took the object, examining it. “Yes, very nice. I’ll just leave now, and take this straight back to headquarters. We’ll get right on this my good man, just as soon as I get back! We’ll have the mystery of your tragic power plant solved in no time.” He almost laughed at his own theatrics while he walked back towards his car, ready to get out of this godforsaken town and back to a club in Washington. 

Kitz pulled his keys out of his pocket. “Giant aliens… Pfft, the biggest thing around here is probably they mayor’s wif-!” 

He shrieked as he saw his car in the middle of the forest floor, squashed flat like a bug. It took him a moment to assess the situation before running back for help. Moments later he came back into the clearing with the man who had given him the half of a BB gun, stumbling and rambling on about how his car had been crushed.   
When the two men stepped out of the trees, there was nothing left but the front bumper of the vehicle. Kitz stammered, running his hands through his hair. “It was just here, I-!” 

“Mr. Weilman, what exactly are we looking at here?” 

Kitz stopped. He took a deep breath, and picked up what was left of his car. “Sir, I think I’d better start calling my mother Dumbo.”

That afternoon, Armin had rushed home as quickly as he could manage. He threw his school bag down onto the middle of the kitchen floor, and opened up the ice box. There was some old chicken inside, it needed to be thrown out- but he had a better use for it. He shoved the old meat into a plastic bag. Then he grabbed a pen, and his school notebook, tucking them under his arm. Armin took off out of the back door of the house. He had to get in and out before his mother could lecture him on the missing antenna. Which, now that he thought about it, was probably still out there by the power plant. It was risky to go back there though. 

Instead, Armin crossed the tracks and headed towards a clearing that the titan hadn’t made himself. There was an old stump where one tree had been cut down a very long time ago, and Armin sat down on it. He held the bag with the chicken in it, turning up his nose. The titan would probably smell it before Armin even had to speak. 

He waited a few moments, just sitting there, to see if that hypothesis came true. There was nothing but the sound of a woodpecker in the distance. So the boy stood up on top of the tree stump, and cupped his mouth over his hands. “Heeeeey, Mr. titan! I brought some really good earth food for you to eat, come and get it!” He shouted so loud that the birds all took off. Armin straightened his back, and waiting for the sound of giant footsteps coming towards him. Several moments of silence passed him by. 

“Alright, I can wait! I’m sure you’re busy, doing… Whatever it is that you do out here…” With a heavy sigh, Armin sat with his back against the stump. He watched the clouds above him rolling by, listening for the footsteps of the beast he’d saved the night before. He’d be here any time now, any time… Then Armin could take notes on him. As he waited, he went ahead and wrote down his experience from the power plant the night prior.

After forty five minutes of waiting for the thing to come, Armin started drifting off. He fell asleep in the middle of the clearing, curled up in the grass. All of that missing sleep was really catching up to him, and after such a long period of sitting down he couldn’t help but drift off. In his slumber he forgot that there was something that could be waiting to eat him as soon as he found the spot where he lay. But in truth, Armin wasn’t so afraid of the thing now as he had been. It had a body so much like a human’s, and the eyes of one as well. Also, he’d backed off as soon as he’d been told. It would have already shat his body out by now if he had really intended to gobble Armin up. 

The blonde shot up as there was a vibration on the ground below him. It was coming right in his direction, and he was just sitting there in the grass like a piece of meat. Armin stood up straight, grabbing the food he’d brought with one hand, his journal with the other. This was it, the moment of truth. He’d finally get to see what this thing actually was, up close and personal. Maybe he’d see the bowels of the thing too, he thought with a shiver. 

A bead of swat dropped off of his nose as the thing stepped out of the trees. It was really a 50-foot tall man, with rippling muscles and anemic looking flesh that covered his body.  
The monstrous thing stared down at Armin for a moment, blinking those shining green eyes at him. The human boy stepped back a little bit as the thing bent over, and backpedaled towards a tree. He dropped the bag at the titan’s feet while he made a small retreat, not out of the clearing, just out of the thing’s way. The titan bent over, and between his forefinger and thumb, he gently lifted the bag. Slowly extending his arm; he hung it over the teen’s face. Then, some kind of noise escaped the thing’s mouth, but it wasn’t really a word. Armin shook his head back and forth. 

“It’s not mine, I brought it for you. There’s food inside. Though, I’m sure it’s not enough for a stomach as big as yours…” Armin’s voice shook while he tried to force the words out of his gullet. The thing seemed to understand- it unwrapped the old meat and looked at it with a curious look in its eyes. “G-Go on now, eat it.” Armin instructed. He hoped that he wasn’t dealing with a vegetarian Titan. But that could explain all of the torn up trees. 

The creature couldn’t be any less interested in the human food. He tossed it far away into the woods, and with a gargantuan thump, he sat down. It stared down right at the human boy, and it even went so far as to wiggle its ears. Armin smiled- he hadn’t noticed the thing’s ears. They were shaped like some kind of elf’s, as if they were taken right out of a cheesy Christmas card and slapped onto his head. Mind you, the rest of his face was generally terrifying, but Armin really liked those ears. 

“Hel-lo.” Armin spoke slowly. “My name is Armin. I am a human. We are on planet earth. Do you understand me?” Each word was drawn out, so the creature might understand him better. Armin wanted to try and get some message across to the thing. But there was a lot of care that had to be taken in this kind of situation, he couldn’t just run out and shout at it. He didn’t get a response- the thing just started swinging its feet left and right. 

“How about a name? What is your name?” He pointed both hands at the huge man, continuing to elongate his words. The titan blinked, and opened up its mouth. Just as Armin thought he was going to get an answer; the thing yawned. It was insane how far it could stretch its jaws, it looked like some sort of damned snake. It seemed clear that it wasn’t ready to talk yet. 

“Well, I can’t just keep calling you ‘it’. If we’re going to communicate like civilized, er, species, I’m going to have to refer to you as something. I’m just going to assume that you’re a male for now, okay? But how about something more gender neutral?? Titano, or Gargantum, or Giantha? No, Giantha sounds too feminine…” Armin tapped his foot on the ground as he thought. 

“Eee…Reahn.” The human’s head shot back to look at the titan as a plume of steam escaped his mouth. Armin approached him, smiling all the while.  
“What was that? Are you trying to tell me something?” He asked. “Come on, you can do it- take your time now.”

“Ern… Eren… Eren!” The thing practically chirped. Armin could tell that it was trying to smile, but it just couldn’t get the job done because it didn’t have the facial structure of a normal human. But, Armin didn’t care what kind of expression the thing made- he was practically vibrating with excitement. 

“Eren, that’s your name!” He exclaimed. “That’s great! Can you say anything else, Eren? Can you tell me where you came from? Is it from up there, in the sky?” The teen pointed his finger up in the air, towards the clouds. Eren looked up at them- and he shrugged his shoulders. It was definitely starting to look like he could understand English, even if it was just a little bit. 

The titan reached his arm out, and poked the human on his stomach. “Ar-min.” He said, lifting his ears up. Armin put both of his hands on the titan’s thick finger, and nodded his head once. 

“Yes, I’m Armin.” He replied. “So you don’t have any idea of where you came from, huh? Sounds like you probably lost your memories somewhere along the way. That’s going to be a problem… But I’ll help you get them back, it’ll just take time.” The titan responded right away by nodding his head. 

Armin walked right up next to him, so that he the creature could hear him better. “Good. Now Eren, I need you to do something for me- stay in these woods. If anyone in Shiganshina saw you as you are right now, they’d all be very frightened. But I’ll help you talk like a human does, and figure out a plan from there.” He watched the titan nod again.

He looked past Eren’s head, and saw streaks of purple in the sky. He really had to go home, but there was a burning need for new information in his head. A few more minutes couldn’t hurt. “So, do remember if you have any friends, Eren?”

“…Friend?” The titan responded. 

“Yeah, friends. They’re other people that you’re close to. And you protect them whenever they’re in danger.” Armin explained. “I can’t really say much more than that, I’ve never had a lot of them.” The teen looked in the sky again- it was still getting darker. “Hey, Eren- you can walk back home with me. Nobody’s there, you can just come to the edge of the woods.” Armin wanted to get more out of the creature, he wanted to know so much that it clogged his mind. 

Armin stood up, and took towards the path that Eren had already carved out of the trees. He squeaked when he felt his feet disconnect from the ground below him. He very soon found himself sitting on the titan’s warm palm. “Okay Eren, please don’t drop me. It will not be pretty if you drop me.” Armin didn’t dare stand up on the moving surface yet. “Uh… Go that way. That’s where my house is- you know, where you stole the antenna from?”

The titan seemed to understand when Armin pointed. He started walking through the thick wood wherever Armin showed him. The teen was starting to realize that Eren was much either much more intelligent than he let on, or he was learning incredibly fast. It was only a few moments before they arrived at the edge of the forest. 

“Okay, you can put me back down now.” Just as he requested, Armin was sat back down on level ground. They were on the opposite side of the tracks, just up the hill from his home. “I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon Eren, okay?” Armin smiled as he started to walk off, hopping across the tracks. He frowned as a heavy footstep came towards him. “Hey, you’ve got to stay here big guy. I can’t take you home with me- if my mom sees you, she’ll have a cow. Just stay here until tomorrow.” He turned around again, but the creature kept on following along behind him. “Hey, I said stay!” Even as he raised his voice just a bit, the titan seemed intent to follow him. 

“Eren, listen to me. I’ll come back tomorrow!” He shouted. “You’ve got to stay behind those trees or someone’s going to find you, now let me go home!” 

The titan ignored him, stepping onto the tracks. He stood there for a moment, and then his ears perked up. As the train bell started ringing, the titan focused on the engine coming around the corner. As it blew its horn, Eren opened his mouth and roared back it. Armin thought that he was just trying to play around. 

“Hey, get off of the tracks. The train is coming.” He told the titan. But as the huge creature hunkered down, spread across the tracks like he was going to grab the train, his heart rate picked up. “Eren, don’t do that. Get off of the tracks- that thing’s a machine, it’s just going to pass through. Hey, listen to me!” Armin’s voice shook as the engine got closer. There was no way that he could push the titan from the track by himself, and it seemed like he wasn’t going to listen. 

“Eren! Eren get off of the tracks, it’s going to kill you!” The teen shouted. The locomotive was seconds away from hitting the creature, blasting its horn over and over. “Eren!” Armin howled at the top of his lungs. At the very last second the titan turned his head, and moved one leg off of the track- but the other didn’t come fast enough. 

Armin was blown back as the train engine collided with Eren’s body. The train flew off of the rails, turning over. With one of his legs on the other side of the track, the titan’s body came flying down along with Armin’s. They landed within a few feet of one another, covered in dirt and grass. 

The blonde scrambled to his feet, and he screamed. Through all of the steam he could see the gore of Eren’s leg, ripped off of his body like a twig. The gargantuan creature was still again, becoming enshrouded in the steam that poured from his wounds. 

Through the steam Armin watched the titan’s face, tears streaming down his own. This couldn’t be happening, not now. There was so much to learn from Eren, he was so very important, there was no way that he could be dying. Armin was finally going to make a friend.

Quickly, one of the green eyes shot open. Eren lifted himself up on one arm, and to the boy’s surprise, he lifted himself even higher. The titan stood up on his legs –legs that had just been crushed by a massive train engine- and looked down at the human with worry. He seemed to show no concern over the fact that he’d just been blown to smithereens, then reformed himself in just a couple of seconds. He bent over and looked over the little human; wiggling his ears again. 

Armin was stunned. He looked at the ground around them- empty. Everything that had come flying off of Eren’s form had faded into nothing, and now a new limb had grown in place of the one that had been crushed. Armin could have asked him a thousand questions right then and there, but when a voice came out from the train, he knew that there was no time for an interrogation on the workings of Eren’s body. 

“Come on, follow me. I think I know a place where you can hide.” He motioned for the titan to follow him, running for the barn next to his house. It was empty now, but a long time ago his grandparents had used it to hold a tractor and some chickens. Now there were just a few gardening tools lying around. Armin shuffled Eren into the old structure, slamming the door behind them. 

“Wow, that was close…” Armin smiled. “Your body is so amazing, Eren! Y-You got blown to bits, but now you’re normal again!” Armin was practically laughing out each of the words. He was so amazed by what was really going on around him- he must have been the luckiest teenager in the world. 

He squeaked when Eren suddenly lifted him up off of the ground. The titan lifted up his arms and looked him all over. Armin did let out a chuckle that time. “Eren, it’s alright. I’m fine.”

Eren held Armin up to his face, rubbing against his body with his nose. “Good.” The titan managed to say, putting Armin back down on the ground. “Armin safe.” He looked like he was smiling again, he sort of moved his skin a little bit and lifted his ears to grin. Armin rubbed his newfound companion on the knee.

“Safe… Well of course I’m alright Eren, you’re the one that got hit by that train.” Armin blinked at the creature, sitting in his palm. “Wait a second, I get it. You were just trying to protect me from the train, weren’t you?” He asked. Eren nodded his head up and down enthusiastically. 

“Protect friend.” He stated. Armin smiled at him, rubbing his thumb. 

“Thank you, Eren. But you can’t do things like that. Promise me that you won’t try to do something stupid again, you’ll wind up getting hurt.” He paused for a moment, and pointed down to the floor. “Put me back down- I’ll go inside and get something to show you. But you’ve got to stay in the barn, people are going to start coming to look at that train wreck.”

Armin was placed on the ground. Eren did as he had been instructed, staying right where he sat. The blonde darted back inside of the house, double checking to make sure that he was still alone. All was quiet- his mother had probably just left for her shift. Now he had stalled the impending interrogation from her for one more day. Without looking on the fridge for the inevitable angry note, Armin hurried up to his room. He picked up the books that he’d gotten from the library, and a few more off of his shelf. 

Sneaking out to the barn with his books, Armin turned to enter the barn. Quickly he closed the door back behind him, and took a seat by Eren’s side. “These are books. You probably can’t read them, but I’ll read to you if you want. Let’s see… We’ve got Sherlock Holmes, and War of the Worlds, and-“ Armin stopped as Eren picked one of the volumes up, scanning the cover with eyes larger than the object itself. 

“I didn’t mean to grab that one. It’s a geography book… When I was little I wanted to fly around the world like my dad, but now I’m pretty sure that I’ll never even get out of this state for the rest of my life.” He sighed. “At least I can see the ocean, huh?” 

“Ocean?” Eren cocked his head to the side. 

“Yeah. It’s that big water on the other side of town. Once people get to know you, the two of us can go there and swim together. You’re so big, I bet you could swim all the way to Florida and back in just a couple of hours!” 

No sooner than those words came out of his mouth, Armin heard a car pulling in. “Oh no- mom must be home! Eren, you stay here. Whatever you do, don’t leave the barn.” Armin scrambled out of the old wooden structure, flying into his house. He skidded into the kitchen and yanked out a textbook from inside of his schoolbag, so that he could fake that he’d been studying. Which, he had been studying an unidentified life form- but he was supposed to be reviewing his geometry. 

There was a knock at the door. Armin looked towards the sound- his mother wouldn’t be knocking unless the door was locked, and she’d forgotten her key. Peeking out the window, he didn’t recognize the car outside as hers. For a moment he was scared that someone had come looking for Eren, but there was a train derailed in his back yard; someone was going to show up eventually. The teen tried to compose himself as he opened the door- the bookworm had run around way too much in the past hour. 

“Kitz Weilman, I work for the government. Could I use your phone?” The man at the door was tall, and clad in a dark suit. He was unshaven, and his eyes tore out of dark circles. Most certainly not a normal police officer, he didn’t look like anyone from around Shiganshina. The sight of him made Armin want to react in a number of ways, many irrational. 

“Of course, sir- it’s right in there.” He said through his teeth. He let the man inside, trusting by his dress and his expression that he was actually from the government. Not any specific part of the government, just the government. Like that gave Armin any idea of why he was here- for all he knew, this guy could be a damned postal worker on his way back from a date. 

He tried not to make himself look as stressed as he was. It was just about the train crash, he chanted in his own head. But this guy didn’t seem like a run of the mill officer, he was something right out of a movie- an investigator from somewhere. Armin tried and tried to think of something that would get the stranger out of his hair, or some way to get Eren out of the barn before anyone went looking around for him. 

There was yelling from the kitchen, and the sound of the man slamming the phone down on the receiver. Armin swore to whatever god was out there that he would shed blood if the phone was broken. He had too much shit to explain to his mother whenever she got a hold of him anyway- he hadn’t even looked for a note on the fridge yet.  
The mystery man came walking out of the kitchen, looking at Armin as he made for the door. “Thank you for letting me use the telephone- what’s your name, son?” He asked. 

“It’s Armin Arlert, sir. You’re welcome.” He answered. He wanted to ask if he was only here about the train wreck, but any good little boy who wasn’t hiding a giant alien in his barn would automatically assume that yes, of course it was the train wreck. As the man closed the door behind him, Armin fled to the window. He watched the bearded individual get into his car, and then drive off- in the other direction. Shouldn’t he be going back to the train wreck? Armin gulped, and darted towards the back door where he could go to the barn and find Eren.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes a chapter that is a bit longer than the others!! sorry it's a bit choppy in the beginning, but I had to sort of try and stick the events all together. In case any of you are wondering who kitz is, that's the dick with the beard that about took the shiganshina trio out. I'll have another update soon, if I don't excuse myself from this fandom first for being such a bad contributor ahaa;;


	4. Chapter 4

Kitz turned the key in his car, and huffed. The general had not been pleased with him at all when he’d called. He’d been laughed, screamed, and poked fun at all during a three minute conversation. That jackass up in Washington may have been laughing now, but Kitz knew that there was something behind all of these reports. Maybe it wasn’t a giant alien man, but it was something humongous enough to crush and lift a car from its spot in seconds. However, that’s all it was. A sinking feeling in his stomach- there was no physical evidence for him to speak of. Not even so much as a hair off of the head of this colossal thing had been recovered. 

As soon as Kitz had caught wind of the train wreck, and that the engineer had been derailed by hitting a massive human form, he’d been on the site as quickly as possible. But it had turned up nothing at all new. He’d looked over the front of the train- not so much as a drop of blood clung to the metal surface.   
He thought back to the boy that had let him in to use the telephone. He was surprised that his parents weren’t home, they’d just left a teenaged boy all by himself at night. 

“Armin… Who would ever think to name their kid something so ridiculous?” He laughed to himself. “Might as well name him Hogarth or something… Armin Arlert… Arm- “He slammed the brakes of his car and looked at the BB gun that sat in the driver’s seat. What was left of the engraving read ARM and ARL. Kitz shifted gears and turned his vehicle around like the wind. 

Speeding back along the old asphalt road, he came to a screeching stop in front of the house. There was another car in the driveway now- it must be the boy’s parents, he thought. Damn it! He had wanted to get the boy alone now, so that he could interrogate him over the BB gun. Now it would be difficult to hold an investigation. 

Inside of the Arlert household, there was already a full-scale interrogation under way. Armin hadn’t gotten half way to the barn when his mother had pulled into the driveway, headlights catching her son like a deer. She was not so happy to see him either. For a moment he wondered if she were an alien too, because it looked like steam was coming out of her ears. Now she was asking him all sorts of questions, like why he’d been going out so late at night, why was the antenna missing, and would he like to explain all of the junk food that had suddenly gone missing from the kitchen. Even Armin’s brilliant mind had trouble coming up with this many excuses. 

He was saved from the wrath of his mother’s tongue as a knock came to the door. Probably someone else come to ask about the train wreck, both of them supposed. Armin quickly went to answer, just to get out of that stranglehold. He looked through the peep-hole, and frowned. The man who’d used their phone was back again. Had he left something? Armin opened the door nonetheless.

“Armin Arlert, yes?” The man asked, staring down at the teen with those frightening, sunken eyes. The blonde nodded his head, and looked at the object in the stranger’s hands. His heart nearly froze at the sight of his BB gun, the wooden handle split and splintered. The man didn’t ask to come in this time, instead waltzing into Armin’s home as if he owned the place. 

At this point, the teen’s mother came out of the kitchen to greet the stranger. She blinked, noticing the broken gun in the man’s hand. “Armin, that’s yours. What were you doing with your BB gun?” 

Armin had less than a second to think. There was no way that even his mind could think of an excuse that quickly. A noise came from upstairs, and he panicked. “Wait here just one second, I’ve got to use the bathroom!” He said, fleeing up the stairs. 

In the living room, the two adults stood with perplexed expressions. Armin’s mother crossed her arms. “This isn’t like him at all… Normally he never even leaves his bedroom, but for the past few days I haven’t been able to catch him. Today I got a call from one of his teachers- said that he was drawing pictures of a giant naked man.”   
Kitz raised an eyebrow. “Really? A young man like him? Sounds like he’s going through a phase. He wasn’t saying anything else about giants, was he?” He asked suddenly. 

Back upstairs; Armin was about to have a heart attack. Level to his bathroom window was a giant eyeball, peering in the window. It lit up at the sight of Armin, a giant hand reaching in through the window. Eren had the books that Armin had brought, or most of them, and was trying to return them to their owner. 

“Eren, you can keep them- now go back to the barn! Hurry up!” The blonde screeched under his breath. He could hear his mother and Kitz conversing downstairs, and it was probably just enough to cover the sound of Eren’s footsteps outside. The titan tried to obey Armin’s orders, but his hand got stuck along the way out of the window. 

“Oh no… Come on Eren, just close your hand up and pull it out! You’ve gotta hurry, I think they’re coming up the stairs!” Armin pressed his back to the titan’s hand, pushing with all of his might. He grunted as he tried to squeeze the oversized fist out of the window. There were concerned whispers outside of the bathroom door. He needed some kind of lubricant, and quickly. Armin looked at the soap on the edge of the bath tub, and took a deep breath. He grabbed it with one hand; and shoved it and his hand into the toilet bowl with a noise that must have sounded disgusting from outside the door. He quickly rubbed Eren’s hand with the substance, urging the titan to pull harder. With one movement the creature was free- he followed Armin’s order, and returned back to the barn with books in tow. 

Armin could still hear voices outside the bathroom door. He took a deep breath, and dropped his pants. As he’d thought, the door opened, and he was exposed to his mother and the bearded man. He shrieked, and his hands flew to his groin. The door closed immediately, leaving Armin alone. The teen panted- this was really starting to be too much for him, so much was happening in such a short amount of time, and he wasn’t built to move around like this. 

He bit his lip, and pulled his trousers back up to his waist. He did a double check to make sure that Eren had returned to the barn safely- he saw the wooden door sliding closed. Armin pulled the bathroom window shut, and took a deep breath. He couldn’t hear voices outside the door anymore, he supposed that they must have gone back down the stairs. Armin stepped back down to the first floor, and to his joy, the investigator was just being shown out by his mother. 

“It’s late, I’m sure the boy’s just tired. I’ll come back to tomorrow, Mrs. Arlert.” He shot an intense look at Armin as he tipped his hat, turning out of the door. The blonde thought that he could hear angels singing in the background as the door closed. 

His mother sighed. “Listen, I’ve got to get into work soon, I don’t have time to ask what any of this is about. But don’t think you’re getting off the hook young man- I want answers for everything that’s been going on lately, I’m really starting to worry about you.” 

Armin just nodded his head, and apologized to her. He excused himself to his bedroom, mind swirling. Now there was evidence that he’d been there on the night that Eren had destroyed the power plant- but they didn’t have any evidence that it was actually Eren, right? There weren’t any photos of him, so they couldn’t have any real way of telling if Eren was real or not. 

He waited for a few minutes before hopping out of his bedroom window again. One thing was certain, and it was that Eren wasn’t safe here. He had to go someplace where nobody in their right mind would think to check, where something big could be hidden… Armin smiled. There was a junk yard just on the other side of the woods, by the lake. He could stash Eren there just until he could figure out a plan that would make him seem trustworthy to normal people. 

Running as stealthily as he could out to the old wooden barn, Armin slid open the doors. The titan was waiting for him, ears wiggling as soon as he saw the human. The teen grabbed him by one colossal finger, and tugged in the direction of the door. 

“Come on Eren, we’ve got to go. Turns out you’re not as safe out here as I thought.” He hissed while whispering to the creature. “Pick me up again, I’ll show you where to go. But be as quiet as you possibly can. Mom might hear you.” 

Armin had a little more confidence the second time that he was lifted up by the titan, trying to level himself on his feet. Eren had to crouch down as he exited, and the titan followed wherever his tiny friend led him. They went in the opposite directions of the flipped train, back into another section of the forest. The sun had long since set, but the light of the moon lit the way for them. 

As they came to the top of a hill, Eren stopped. Armin blinked at him; and watched the titan turn his head towards the town below. It was littered with yellow lights, some of them buzzing along the fronts of cars. The creature pointed his own finger towards the town, as if he wanted to go in that direction. 

“I’m sorry Eren, we can’t go there yet. If the people in shiganshina see you now, they’ll all be afraid of you.”

“Why?” 

Armin was a little bit surprised. He hadn’t actually heard Eren ask him a question yet, all he’d done was sort of cock his head from one side to the other. “Well… It’s because you’re so big. Humans aren’t used to things like you, and they sometimes hurt the things that they’re afraid of.” 

The titan sighed through his nose, a puff of steam escaping in the process. Armin patted him on the thumb, and pointed away from the town. “It’s just through these trees, go this way.” As they turned away, Eren seemed to have a disappointed look. Armin was getting a little better at detecting his expressions; they were hard to decipher on one with no lips or eyebrows. 

Just as the boy had promised, through the trees was the place where Eren could stay hidden without question. The junk yard had piles of scrap metal that rose up to at least thirty feet in the air in places, and the entire place was encased within the forest. As far as Armin knew, it was empty except for the stray tow truck that pulled in a broken down car. He led Eren inside; watching the titan examine everything. 

With one step, a horn started blaring. Eren jumped five feet in the air, almost dropping Armin as the noise tore into the night. The blonde landed on his stomach; scrambling up to all fours. Below them, a car horn screeched. The titan must have stepped on it, as it had a huge dent right down the middle. 

“Turn it off, turn it off!” He hissed. Eren picked the car up with his other hand, rattling it a few times. Armin continued to wave his hands in his palm. The giant looked left, then right, and he tossed the car like a pebble, all the way out into the forest. 

“Oh no… Eren, you’ve gotta-“

“Hey, who’s out there?!” 

The teen nearly pissed himself when he heard a voice. His head whipped around towards Eren. “Put me down, you’ve gotta hide! Quick, go sit down behind that pile of metal over there!” 

Armin hopped off of the titan’s hand, trying to follow as he dove behind the tall heap of scrap. A light shone behind him as a door opened.   
All five feet three inches of angry Levi came bounding out of a shack; wielding a sword in his hand. The sigh he heaved at the sight of Armin, caught like a deer in headlights, was colossal. He dropped his sword to his side. 

“Don’t I know you?” The man asked, his voice returned to deadpan. “Wait a minute, you’re that runt from the library the other day. If you came here looking for me, I told you once, I don’t know anything about any big aliens. What are you doing out here? You’ve got school tomorrow, don’t you?” 

“Ah- yes sir.” Armin squeaked. Out of one ear he could hear Eren’s breath in the background. “Ah, I was just on my way back home, I’ll come bac-“ 

“Where do you think you’re going?” The teen was yanked back by his collar. Levi had a hold on him, pulling him back towards the shack that he’d emerged from. “Come in, sit down.”

“Are you going to call my mom?” Armin stammered while being dragged along. 

“Fuck no I’m not going to call your mom, what are you, sixteen? I was out at ungodly hours of the morning when I was twelve. Now take a seat somewhere, I’ll get something to drink.” Levi closed the door behind them. The boy was surprised by how inhumanly clean the junkyard owner’s home was. Everything was sparkling, organized, and dusted clean enough to sparkle. The furniture was nice, the art on the walls classy, and the carpet smelled like it was freshly swept. 

“What do you want, tea, or coffee? I’ve got some milk too, but don’t expect it to be white.” 

“I’ll have coffee, thank you.” The boy replied as he took a seat. At first he thought about the tea, but then Armin remembered that he’d only had an hour of sleep the night before- and he’d been running around all day long now. Now that he had a chance to sit down, he felt like he was going to fall into some sort of coma. Now that Eren was hidden for the moment, he needed to get home and rest. 

Levi was back in several minutes with coffee for both of them- the mugs were spotless, as were the saucers beneath them. Armin was more than a little shaky as he lifted his mug to his lips, taking a sip of the liquid. He almost sputtered- it was strong, and untouched by milk or sugar. But he managed to keep his composure; letting the warmth slide into his stomach.

“So, tell me what you’re really doing out here...”

“It’s Armin.” 

“Sure, whatever Arman, let me finish my question. What’s a kid like you doing out here in the middle of the night? If you’re just out here to bang a girl or something, that’s fine, just take it out along the edge of the woods or something.” 

The teen flushed. “No, that’s not it!” 

“Well, is it another man then? You know what, don’t answer that. If you’re not here to find a place to fuck, what is it? If you’re looking for some good metal to strip, trust me, someone else would have gotten to it before you.” 

Armin shook his head. “I have this friend, sir.”

“Call me Levi.” 

“I have this friend, er, Levi. He’s sort of a weirdo- well not really, but some people think he is- and he needs a place to stay. I thought it would be alright if I brought him to the junk yard, nobody’s going to come looking for him out here.” Everything he said was true. Maybe, if he sugar coated it enough, he could trust this man with the secret that he was keeping. 

Levi bent over, squeezing his brows together. “Listen, kid- I’m not going to let some friend of yours bum around here in my junk yard. I only keep things that I can use here, not useless waste. Why don’t you take him to the hope house or something? If his parents kicked him out and he can’t land a decent job, then you shouldn’t even be hanging around this guy.” 

Armin took another drink of the coffee. It woke him up, and cleared his sleep-deprived mind. “That’s not the problem. I don’t know who he is, and he doesn’t either. He’s got some kind of amnesia, I think. I can’t take him home with me because my mom would flip out. He’s a pretty big fella compared to most; I couldn’t pass him off as a friend from school if I tried. I don’t have to keep him here forever, just until I can find a better place for him to stay.” 

“Amnesia? This man obviously needs to be in a hospital, not in the back of some piss-soaked car seat. Where is he? I’ll drive him there myself, Jesus Christ.” Levi stood up, heading for the door. Armin stumbled out of his seat; reaching after him. 

“Wait a second- don’t go out there!” The blonde called. There was a sudden thud on the roof above them; and both turned their head upwards. 

“What the hell…? Is that dumbass running around on my roof?” Levi opened the door; Armin jumping after him. The smaller of the two turned around to look on his roof, and was met with a cloud of steam in his face. Eren was bent over the shack; and had been looking in on them with his head turned upside-down for who knows how long.   
Before Armin could say a word, he was slung over the older man’s back. For someone even smaller than he was, Levi possessed much more strength in his body. He took off with the boy, running in the opposite direction of the titan.

Eren was enraged as he watched his friend being picked up and stolen by the other little thing. He growled, or the closest thing to it. He lifted the hunk of metal that they had taken over under. With one hand he snatched up the human that had grabbed Armin and carried him away. The human wiggled around in his hands; and just as Eren was opening his mouth to bite his rotten little head off, he heard Armin’s voice. 

“Eren, put him down! He’s good, he’s not going to hurt me. His name is Levi. Now please, put him back down.”   
The titan closed his jaws with an audible clack, and curled his face back into a snarl. “Levi.” He hissed, before letting the human drop about four feet to the ground. The man landed on his feet. Though he was shaking, he still kept a stoic expression. 

They moved the earlier conversation outside, where Levi had refurbished a few car seats into lawn chairs. Armin was fine, but the man had made sure to wipe his own seat off before sitting. Levi’s mug clattered against the saucer as he lifted it up; unable to take his eyes off of Eren. The titan was plucking old seats out of cars; and piling them next to himself. 

“So… What’s your friend doing there, Armpit?” He asked; voice never faltering. He was calming down a little bit now that the titan had stopped glaring at him, but even for someone seasoned with horrors as he was, a titan was freaky. 

“I’m not sure. It looks like he’s taking the soft parts out of it… He knows he’s going to sleep here, so he’ll probably use them all as a pillow. Or maybe he’ll eat them. I don’t think he even needs to eat. And he only breathes sometimes, to let all of that steam out. Now that it’s dark, he seems pretty slow. I wonder if he’s like a giant plant…” 

“If it were, then I would have walked it to the fair and won myself a blue ribbon. What is this thing anyway? Not human, it doesn’t have a human’s face. Looks kinda like an elf that got thrown in a nuclear waste dump to me.” 

“He. HIS name is Eren. He told me himself- he’s learning to talk better. Once he’s god enough, I’ll see if I can get some people to like him. But for right now, he needs a place to stay…” Armin flashed his round blue eyes at the owner of the junk yard. 

Levi stood up. He tossed down the rest of his coffee, bowed, and slowly walked back inside of his shack. Both Eren and Armin watched him disappear back into his home. The titan wiggled his ears, reaching over with one arm to pluck Levi's seat onto the very top of his pile.   
…

Thirty seven minutes later, Armin pounded his fist against the door. “Come on Levi, you’ve got to let him stay! I can’t take him anywhere else without getting in trouble, the sun’s starting to come up. I could have him break the door down you know, he’ll do anything I ask!”   
He almost fell inside when Levi tossed open the door. “Fine, fine. If you will shut your fucking pie hole for two seconds, I’ll let him stay the night. Now please, kid, go home.” 

“Really? Thank you- I’ll be back right after school today, I’ll see you soon Levi!”

“Yeah, sure. What the hell ever.” 

As Levi flopped onto his couch, Armin hopped across the junkyard. Eren was using all of the seats as a cushion for his head after all. The human patted his titan friend on the arm, and smiled. “I’ll see you later Eren, don’t eat Levi while I’m gone.” 

The sleeping creature didn’t give any response, so Armin turned. He didn’t have the titan to carry him home now- he had to run as fast as his tired legs could carry him. It was time to be up for school soon, and he knew that his mother would be there to wake him up. He silently cursed his gargantuan companion- at least he got a bit of shuteye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks you guys for all of the comments you've given me, I'm glad that you're enjoying it! I tried to start getting some better character development in for Eren this time, but a lot of that will come next chapter. And again, thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

Armin scrambled into his window just as real daylight broke. Immediately he made for his bed; energy depleted by forty eight hours gone with only a few to rest. He lifted up his covers to slip under them, if only for a few minutes, but a door opened up behind him. His mother was in to tell him that it was time for school, and she was surprised that he was already awake. 

With a groan; Armin placed his blanket back where it had been, and left it waiting for him to return. He had no idea how he was going to make it through school again. All of this sleep deprivation felt like some kind of torture on his body. But, he thought, it was worth it if it meant that Eren was safe and sound. Maybe the titan could spare a bit of room on his stack of car seats for Armin to take a nap. 

As he was downstairs getting himself ready for the achingly long day ahead of him; the phone rang. Armin cocked an eyebrow- people usually didn’t call at this time of day. He lifted it off of the receiver and held it up to his ear. “Hello?” 

“It’s morning now, and this thing is still here.” 

Armin winced as Levi’s voice came through the phone. He wasn’t sure how the man had gotten this number, but there couldn’t be too many people with his last name in the phone book. He heard a boom in the background, and the sound of footsteps. Levi was shouting something with his hand over the receiver. 

“I’ll be back as soon as I can to take care of it, I promise!” Armin hissed into the phone. He heard the man on the other end say his name before he hung up. He couldn’t afford to sit around and talk about it now, he was already going to be late if he didn’t pick up his feet and move. Scarfing down two pieces of toast, Armin ran out and left on his bicycle. 

As he was expecting, school felt like running laps for hours, instead of sitting. He just couldn’t keep the information in his head- it went through one ear, and right out of the other. His history teacher went on about the iron curtain, and how sputnik was circling above them, watching their every move. But Armin could have cared less. He just hoped deep in his mind that Eren and Levi were managing to get along, somehow. 

…

Eren sat near the box where Levi was living. He was still collecting anything soft that he could find. He really liked soft things, and this place had lots of them if you looked hard enough. There were also some things that glimmered in the light. He liked those too. There was a shiny thing right by the box, it was like the one that he’d found in the woods- though he’d accidentally ruined that one. The titan bent over and lifted up Levi’s car from the ground, examining the object.

Levi was inside, still in his call with the shitty brat that had left the titan in his junkyard. There was a thud outside, and he whipped his head around. His brain nearly burst when he saw the overgrown toddler holding his car up by the hood; turning it to watch how the sunlight reflected off of the surface. Levi jerked the telephone off of the table as he fled to the window. 

“That’s my car!” He called through the opening. He heard a voice through the phone in his hand, and then the familiar tone of an empty line. Levi tutted, and went scrambling out of his door. His car was probably a mess by now, all covered in greasy, oversized fingerprints. 

“I said, that’s my car. It’s one of the only clean things that I have.” Levi could hardly hide the bubbling anger in his voice as he addressed the titan. “You see all of those other ones out there? You know, the ones that are worthless now because you plucked all of the god damn seats out? Those are trash.” Levi motioned to the piles of scrap metal. “They’re dirty, and covered in rust, and aren’t worth a shit. But what you currently have IN YOUR MOUTH is MY car!” 

Eren sat the vehicle down, kicking up dust all around the object as it was placed on the ground. Levi let out a deep sigh, covering his face with both of his palms. “Great. Now I’m going to have to spend the rest of the day scrubbing that thing down, thanks a lot.” 

The titan frowned in his own way, and then his ears perked up. He lifted the car into the air again, much to the distaste of the human below him. “What are you doing with it now? Put it down right now.” Levi commanded the creature. He watched Eren examining the thing again, going over it with his eyes. The titan’s mouth opened up wide- it was frightening, like some kind of snake. A gross snake that stuck its tongue all the way out; and… Oh god. 

Levi swore he could feel a vein popping when the giant stuck its tongue out, and licked his car like a dog. Saliva fell everywhere, steaming hot off of his car. The human stood completely still, unable to even move in his shock as the titan lapped at his vehicle like it were a lollipop. 

A few moments later, the titan closed his mouth back up again. He sat the car back down on the ground, his drool eroding into puffs of steam. Levi approached what had once been his perfect, spotless vehicle. The steam faded away. For once; the man’s cold look dissolved. His jaw hung open, eyes locked on the blue paint on his ford. Now the car was sparkling in the sunlight, glimmering like something that had been driven down from heaven and parked in the middle of Levi’s junkyard. 

He composed himself again, and looked up into the eyes of the titan. He appeared to be smiling in his own disgusting way. Levi huffed through his nose. “…You don’t think you could do that to some other stuff for me, could you?”

…

Armin couldn’t explain to anyone, even himself, how he made it through the school day without getting a detention for falling asleep in class. He must have dozed off with his eyes still open; because hehad the energy to hop on his bicycle and ride it to the junkyard. Though, as soon as he started drawing close to the place where his gargantuan friend was hiding, he felt like he had the energy in him to sprint for miles. 

Armin came to a stop at the gate of the scrap heap, and stopped for a moment. He saw Eren with some kind of metal piece in his hand, running his tongue all over it. The metal steamed as his saliva evaporated, and when he was done, it was sparkling clean. He could hear Levi’s voice directing him to which piece he should pick up next, and Eren obeyed. 

“Hey, wait a second- what is this?” Armin walked over to the pair. Eren immediately turned his head towards Armin, ears perking up. Levi didn’t look quite as amused when the teen came walking up to him. 

“I’m keeping him busy, and cleaning up my junkyard. This is payback for all of those seats that he took. I’ve even taught him a few new words.”  
There was a thump across from them as the hunk of metal in Eren’s hands slipped, falling to the ground. “God damnit.” The titan huffed. 

Armin was appalled. “Oh my god, you told him to swear? How am I going to get people to like him when he talks like a sailor?” 

The older man shrugged his shoulders. “Well, he cleans like some kind of god with that spit of his. Take him into town and put him in a big cheerleader outfit, you’ll have yourself a car wash. Why, do you have some better use for him?” 

“Well… Not really. I’d teach him to read, but he probably can’t make out anything but billboards. I thought I’d take him into the woods with me, down to the lake. You should come with us.” Armin walked over to Eren, and pet his hand. 

“Those woods? Not on your life, kid.” 

“It’ll be fun though- and if I can get him in the water, Eren will get a bath. I might need help though.” Armin watched Levi shake his head no again. “He’ll start to smell really bad if I can’t give him a bath, but I think he likes you enough now that he’ll listen. It would be a shame for your junkyard to start stinking like a dead animal. But it’s your place, I won’t judge you.” 

Levi’s eye twitched. The kid had a point. Eren might be good at cleaning other things, but he was sure that the titan wasn’t flexible enough to keep himself from stinking up the entire state. It was worth the sacrifice of his shining boots. “Sure, I’ll come. But I’m not getting in that muddy old pond if you start drowning.”

“That’s alright.” Armin told him. “Hey, pick me up Eren. I’ll show you the way.” He watched the titan put his hand on the ground, allowing him to stand there. He lifted Armin way up, and by now the blonde didn’t feel uneasy about being up so high. He knew that Eren had him safe in his hand, and wouldn’t drop him. He looked down at Levi; who looked even smaller now. 

“Let him carry you! Don’t worry, it’s safe up here. A little warm if you sit down, but it’ll take twenty minutes if you walk there yourself.” Armin called from up high. 

“I could use the exercise. You go on ahead, I’ll catch u-“ He was cut off by a swift jerk to the collar of his shirt. Eren had the man up in the air in less than a second, wrapped up in his hand like a firefly. He opened his palm up again, and from what Armin could tell, Eren was wearing some kind of smirk on his face. 

Levi looked surprised for a second. But he gulped the emotion down, and stood himself on the hand of the titan. Armin thought about scolding his gargantuan friend for lifting someone up without their permission; but the junkyard owner only looked a little shaken; but he also hadn’t looked towards the ground. 

Armin patted his friend on the thumb. “It’s that way, Eren.” The teen pointed in the direction of the lake with his index finger. Eren’s ear twitched a bit as it took in the sound, and he followed where the human in his right hand pointed. 

“So, he really listens to what you tell him…” Levi commented, able to keep himself upright with a fair amount of ease. Armin had to waver his legs and hips a little bit along with the giant’s footsteps. “This isn’t as bad as I thought. Keeps all of the raccoon shit off of my feet, at least.” 

Armin nodded his head. With just a little bit of directing, the titan brought Armin and Levi both to the clear lake. It was really much too cold to be swimming in, but that wouldn’t stop Armin from trying. He had a feeling that Eren might be wary if he had to get in the chilly near-winter water all by himself. It was hard to tell how it would feel on his skin compared to a human’s- he was boiling inside, which could have some impact on the temperature that he felt.

The gentle titan sat both humans down on the ground, blinking curiously at the body of water. Down below, Armin was already busy stripping to nothing but his underwear. The water was cold, and it would freeze over on his clothes. The junkyard owner seemed more intent on finding a place to sit where he wouldn’t get his ass covered in dead grass, or whatever else had ended up on the ground out here. 

The teen hung his clothes neatly over a branch. He stepped up to the very edge of the water and stuck the end of one foot in. A shiver ran up his entire body. It was cold at first touch, but if he stayed in long enough, it seemed warm enough to be adjusted to. Armin looked over, and watched with a stupid grin as Eren imitated the action. He stuck one colossal toe into the water, and pulled it right back out. 

Armin waded in slower than he probably should have, it was better to take it all in at once than to ebb your way in. When he stood waist deep, he waved to the titan still on dry land. “Hey, Eren! Get in the water!” He called out. 

To his surprise; the giant turned on his heel. He walked past the big rock where Levi sat, and back into the trees. Armin huffed through his nose, and splashed the water. “Hey, where are you going? Come back here and get in the water you- you-“ He took a big breath. “You big WEENIE!” 

Just as the words came out of his mouth, there were huge footsteps that came towards them like thunder. Eren came bursting out of the trees with his mouth wide open; hurling himself full throttle at the water. Armin flopped without grace as he tried to swim in the opposite direction, weak little arms and legs slapping the surface of the water. The worst case scenario came to be as the titan leapt off of a boulder, pulling his legs in for what would be the end-all cannonball. 

Armin could have sworn that he heard his friend yell something before he came crashing down. There was a hellish sound as water was sucked down around the titan’s body, then shot back up furiously. The teen was caught up in one of the tidal waves, thrown through the water. He came to a stop with his face planted into the dirt, his butt stuck straight up in the air. Levi was no more than three feet away from him, in a similar state. His head was against the ground; and his legs were bent over so that his face was between them. All around them was the sound of flopping fish that had been hurled out of the lake, wetly slapping the ground in confusion. 

Eren sat in the middle of what was now a half-empty lake, which had been more of a puddle to him from the beginning. He looked around for the blonde human that had just been swimming in the water, eyes landing on the shore. The small pair were both sitting as they’d landed as a wave of water retreated back into the lake. 

The blonde boy moved himself into a more dignified position, and turned around when he heard something coming from behind him. It was from Eren’s mouth- but he couldn’t tell what it was at first. He had been about to scold the giant again, but he stopped. The titan flopped back onto the ground with a thud, covering up his face with his hands. He was laughing so hard that it made the leaves in the trees around them shiver. 

His grimace twisted into a grin, and a chuckle bubbled out of Armin’s throat against his will. Soon he was doubled over in laughter, tears poking at the corner of his eyes. Eren’s laughter was contagious, as odd as it sounded coming through his giant vocal chords. Even Levi managed to break the monotone expression that was pasted to his face- if only to crack a smile. It didn’t last long though. The junkyard owner was not pleased to be drenched in disgusting lake water. 

Armin didn’t dare say anything to Levi as he made an exit, trudging along with a blob of moss attached to his back. Making him mad was probably the worst thing that he could do, so for now, he’d try to steer clear of the irate man. Scrambling back up to his feet, Armin looked to the tree where he’d left his clothes. They were dry, much to his relief. He turned to the titan as he tossed them on again, watching him pant after his gargantuan giggle-fit. 

“Are you alright Eren?” He called. “If you want to, we should go walk around in the woods together. I’ll tell you about all of the animals that we find. You need to practice talking too… I hope I can introduce you to everyone before Christmas, it’d be great if you could find a big Christmas tree for all of us!”   
Eren sat up, and nodded his head quickly. He didn’t have to dry himself off much- the water on his skin evaporated much more quickly than usual due to the heat of his skin. 

Armin didn’t even have to ask to be picked up this time. Gentle fingers wrapped around him, lifting him higher than the trees. Instead of in his hands, Eren placed the human onto his shoulder. The teen was a little bit wary at first, but he had trust in Eren, and he knew that he wouldn’t fall. 

“Alright, you can go wherever you want to. Just be careful not to go too close to the edge of the woods, okay?” Armin patted the titan on his neck, his other hand used to keep his balance on the uneven flesh of his shoulder. While watching the scenery go by, Armin kicked his feet through the air light-heartedly. 

He watched the titan turn his head, blinking. The blonde peered down, holding on tight as the creature bent over. There was a lone deer in the grass below them, staring up with wide eyes. Armin gave a small tug to the titan’s hair, just enough to make him feel. 

“Be careful with it Eren, that’s a deer. It’ll get scared if you move to fast.” He breathed. They both watched the deer crane its neck towards the giant’s finger, and Armin expected it to run off as soon as it got the scent. Oddly enough, it went back to grazing in the grass, chewing away without a second thought to Eren’s presence. 

The two sat in complete silence for a minute, watching the animal. There was a sound in the distance however, and it was enough to spook the animal away. Eren let out a sound of disappointment, reaching out after the doe. Armin tapped him on the neck. 

“Don’t worry Eren, there are lots of deer in the forest. We’ll find another one to watch, okay?” 

“Okay….” The titan responded. He straightened himself up to full height again; and turned in the opposite direction that the doe had run off to. His head whipped around so hard that he almost knocked Armin off- there was a bang nearby that rang in his ears. The sound made Eren feel… Weird. Like he’d heard it before, and it made his blood even hotter than normal. 

Armin protested, but he rushed towards the source anyway. There were two humans there- and it looked like they were touching the deer, it was the same one that he’d just seen. They shouted something and ran off; leaving two things on the ground. Eren quickly reached out to grab them, but a shout from the boy on his shoulder stopped him in his tracks. 

“Leave them Eren, nobody’s going to believe anything that they say about you being here…” He trailed off when he saw the deer lying on the ground, bullet in its chest. The doe was freshly dead, struck down by the bullet from one of those men’s guns. He watched Eren touch the creature, trying to rouse it. 

“Is deer… Dead?” 

Armin blinked- he was surprised that Eren recognized death when he saw it. He nodded grimly, stroking the base of the titan’s ear. “Yeah. Those hunters shot it, with one of those guns.” 

At that moment, Armin noticed a strange physical reaction in Eren. Steam escaped his nostrils, and the skin on his hands turned a slightly different color, maybe even a different texture. Underneath him, the boy could feel his friend’s muscles tightening. 

“Are you alright…? It’s okay Eren, they didn’t do anything wrong. People eat deer.” He breathed, running a soothing hand along the titan’s neck. Within a second the titan snapped out of it; his body returning to normal. He held his head with one hand as if it hurt. The human on his shoulder continued to rub his neck with one arm. 

“Let’s go, they’ll come back for it soon.” He cooed to the giant. Eren listened, looking over his shoulder as they left. He didn’t like how those things on the ground made him feel- they made his head throb, and his blood became hotter than usual. 

It was sun down by the time they returned to the junk yard. Levi didn’t come out to greet them, and Armin wasn’t looking to bother him. Eren sat down by his makeshift bed with the human boy in hand. It wasn’t hard to tell that his mind was heavy after seeing the dead animal. Armin tried to soothe him, but he wasn’t quite sure what to tell the creature in order to make him feel better. 

He sat right on the titan’s forehead with his legs crossed. Both of them looked up at the stars in silence for a few minutes, until the blonde spoke up. 

“Are you worried about something Eren? Is it the deer?” He questioned, reaching out to rub one hand in that mass of hair. There was a noise that came from the giant’s mouth that sounded enough like a yes. The human sitting on his face sighed through his nose. “Don’t worry about it… People kill animals, animals kill other animals, everyone has to eat other things in order to survive. Except you, I think. It doesn’t seem like you need to eat anything... But, everything dies, we can’t help that.” 

Eren blinked. “Armin die?” He asked with a string of worry in his voice. He crossed his eyes to try and look at the boy. Armin stood up and hopped down to his chest; where he could look without straining himself. He sat down again, and nodded his head. 

“Yeah, I’ll die someday. Hopefully not for a long time, though.” He informed the titan. Next, Eren pointed to himself. 

“Will I… Die?”

“I guess so… You’ve got that weird regenerative albility, after all. But you’re made out of flesh and blood, so you’ll probably die too. I’m not sure how long titans live- but it can’t be forever. At least, not your body. But your, my, and the soul of everyone else will keep on living.” 

“Soul?” 

“Yeah, it’s this thing inside of everything that doesn’t leave after we pass away. There’s some question as to what happens to our soul after we die, but I think that it’s something good. Souls don’t die like our bodies do.” Armin smiled at the creature, patting his chest. He looked back up at the sky, and the titan’s eyes followed. 

“Souls… Don’t die.” Eren repeated thoughtfully. There was something in his eyes that Armin couldn’t quite place, but it was there, and it made him happy. He stood back up again, crawling up to Eren’s cheek, or the titan equivalent of a cheek. 

“I won’t let anyone kill you, okay? You don’t have to be afraid of those guns.” Armin leaned up against the titan’s nose, rubbing it with one hand. He looked in one of the titan’s bowling-ball eyes. He placed a little kiss on the tip of Eren’s nose. The creature’s eyes lit up with curiosity, and his ears wiggled just a bit.

“Oh, sorry Eren. I won’t kiss you if you don’t want me to.” Armin backed off of the titan’s face, and back onto his chest. The titan sat up again, careful to scoop the boy up while he was moving back into an upright position. Armin stood up on one of his palms then, head tilted to keep eye contact. 

“What is a kiss?” Eren asked him then. Armin blinked at first. However, he should have figured that Eren wouldn’t know what a kiss was. He didn’t have any lips, after all. Bumping big sets of teeth together would probably get weird after a few tries. 

“Well… It’s when you press your lips against someone. Usually people don’t kiss anyone except the people that they really, really care about.” He paused for a second. “I mean, the only times people kiss one another is when they’re in love with a person. But hey, maybe the other titans like you kiss by rubbing their noses together? It’s not too common around here, but some people rub their noses instead of using their lips.” Armin noted. 

He stumbled a little when Eren lifted him up towards his face. The titan held Armin parallel to his head for a moment, his ears shaking again. The blonde cocked his head to the side; wondering why his friend would look at him with expectation. 

“Kiss.” Eren stated. Armin visibly flushed at the request of the titan. But with a bit of hesitation, he pressed the tip of his nose to Eren’s. It was the size of his entire body, but Armin nudged his head back and forth to rub their appendages together nonetheless. He felt Eren do the same, very gently. The force was still enough to almost knock Armin over, but he appreciated it. The motion was gentle and sweet, and odd in a blissful way. 

Opening the eyes that he had let drift shut, Armin pulled his head back. In some odd way, the ‘kiss’ had felt just as intimate as a real one. It left the boy feeling light-headed and confused. Dark had come, and he let out a sigh into the night time air. He couldn’t stay here, he was becoming swamped with thoughts that he had to sort out.

“I’ve gotta go home, Eren. I’ll be back tomorrow as early as I can, okay? You be good for Levi.” He breathed. The creature gave a nod, lingering for a moment before letting his friend down on the ground. Armin stepped off, and waved goodbye to the titan. He didn’t look back, hopping on his bike to ride home. There was something turning in his stomach, and for once, Armin was fearful of the things that his head couldn’t figure out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's late, I went to matsuricon and I've been getting ready for schooltime, which starts the day after tomorrow. Now I've got the romantic plot going, and I'm trying to decide whether r not to include smut, hmhmhm... Well, feel free to put your input in on that one, lol. Anyway- I'm not tracking 'the iron titan' tag on tumblr, so feel free to post your feels and anything else relating to the fic there!! Thank you all for reading!


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